Not Vikrant Massey, Rajkummar Rao was the first choice to play Deepika Padukone's lover in Chhapaak

Rajkummar Rao, not Vikrant Massey, was the first choice for the male lead in Meghna Gulzar's Chhapaak opposite Deepika Padukone.

Rajkummar Rao was the first male lead choice for Chhapaak&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspInstagram

Shortly after her marriage to Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone had announced her next highly-anticipated project after Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat. Titled Chhapaak, the movie is being helmed by Meghna Gulzar of Raazi fame and would see Vikrant Massey, who has previously acted in movies like Lipstick Under My Burkha and A Death In The Gunj, as the male lead.

The first look of the movie was released in March this year and Deepika had ended up receiving appreciation from across all quarters on social media, for her portrayal of Malti, a character believed to be based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.

Now that the film is 'happily halfway done,' a piece of surprising news regarding the cast of the movie has been doing the rounds on the internet. As per circulating reports, another actor has recently revealed on a chat show to have been offered the role in the first place and it's none other than Rajkummar Rao.

The 34-year-old actor was recently quoted by reports to have said, "I didn’t turn it down. Of course not! I loved that script but my dates were so messed up. I’m so looking forward to that film. I kept telling Meghna and Deepika that it’s my loss."

The team had recently celebrated the first schedule wrap of the movie in the national capital, where a lot of sequences from the sets of the film had been leaked online by the shutterbugs and fans. In one such video, Deepika and Vikrant were seen sharing a passionate kiss while standing at the edge of a building's terrace. In several other videos, the actors were seen taking an auto-rickshaw ride, Deepika enjoying street food while being dressed as a school girl and more, which in turn have amped up the excitement in her fans for her forthcoming next.

The 33-year-old actress is making her production debut with Chhapaak, which is slated to hit the theatres on January 10, 2020. After this, Deepika is also rumoured to be cast alongside Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Ranbir Kapoor in Luv Ranjan's next directorial.

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Not Vikrant Massey, Rajkummar Rao was the first choice to play Deepika Padukone's lover in Chhapaak Description:Rajkummar Rao, not Vikrant Massey, was the first choice for the male lead in Meghna Gulzar's Chhapaak opposite Deepika Padukone.Ayush Mohan Dixit